Rose Hill Cemetery, in cooperation with the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) Reserve, 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Company D, Department of Indiana, will rededicate a Civil War era cannon on Saturday, April 5 at Rose Hill Cemetery in Newburgh.

The cannon has been an occupant of this cemetery for more than a century, when the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post #262, Newburgh, was granted permission to place a cannon and a flagpole as a memorial to fallen comrades on lots they had purchased.

The cemetery has constructed a stone memorial featuring the cannon and two plaques detailing the history of the cannon and the GAR.

The rededication ceremony will be performed by the Sons of Union Veterans Reserve, 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Company D, Department of Indiana, from Indianapolis (they are the heirs of the GAR). The American Legion Post 44, the Red Banks ReUnion Band and the Boy Scout Troop 305 will also participate in the ceremony. A new 20-foot flagpole bearing a 34-star Civil War era American flag has been installed at the site.

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was founded in Decatur, Ill., on April 6, 1866. Membership was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service, who served between April 12, 1861, and April 9, 1865. The first National Encampment was held in Indianapolis on Nov. 20, 1866, and the final one was held in Indianapolis on Aug. 28, 1949. The GAR ceased to exist in 1956 when the last Civil War veteran, Albert Woolson, died at the age of 109.

The cannon is technically a Model 1844 Flank Howitzer. It was cast in 1846 by Cyrus Alger & Company of Boston. It is 69 inches long. The bore size is 5.82 inches. It weighs 1,470 pounds. It will fire a 24-pound ball, 1,322 yards at 5 degrees with a two-pound charge of black powder.

The cannon was originally dedicated in April 1904 at Rose Hill Cemetery by the Warrick Post #262, Grand Army of the Republic in Newburgh. They also dedicated a flagpole at the site. Both were placed in the area of the cemetery where the GAR had purchased grave sites for their members. There are 22 GAR members buried at Rose Hill. The last Warrick Post #262 member, Fred Frank, died in 1933.

Current members of the Rose Hill Cemetery Board of Directors have been working to build a new memorial to the Warrick Post #262, GAR members. The memorial, which is in the same location as the original, includes a half-round front wall of decorative stones, which will hold the newly cleaned and painted howitzer. The rear wall, also of stone and in a half-round, is higher than the front wall and has two black granite tablets inserted in the wall. One of the tablets is inscribed with information about the GAR and the original dedication. The other tablet gives information about the howitzer. There is a pass-through between the walls. Stepping stones, which will be sold to help finance the project, will be placed within the walls.

The Rose Hill Cemetery Board of Directors is currently seeking descendants of any Civil War soldier buried at Rose Hill. We are especially interested in descendants of the 31 GAR Charter members. They are as follows: John Robertson, Daniel Fletcher Williams, Samuel Kenyon Williams, James M. Fowler, William W. Perrine, Edward Boone Burns, James R. Tilman, John A. Lawhead, Peter Brenner, John W. Wilder, David Hudson, Jacob Nelson, James W. Holder, William M. Leach, William F. Bills, Washington Westfall, Henry Weis (Wise), Christophen Helms, John Jacks, Joseph Cuttridge, John Caboses and John Jacks.

If you have information you would like to share with the cemetery board, please contact Ron McWilliams at 568-8450 or RonMack9@wowway.com, Kay Lant at 476-2604 or kayzeelant@aol.com, or Jackie Crowley at 598-7087 or jcrowevv@aol.com.